


Second Chances

by embarrassingresultofmyfreetime



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fix-It, Fix-it fic, Gen, Happy Ending, Other, but this is ed Hime's fault, but we have Yaz using her police skills, completely my own rendition, folks we have it all, here's my version, i present to you, it's written in the style of a doctor who episode, my guys this really got away from me I'll admit, my remake of 'Orphan 55', so as an ode to the descent ideas he had that didn't quite form a cohesive story, we even have a bit of the Master, we have 13 snapping emotionally, we have a bittersweet/optimistic conclusion, we have the companions separated from the doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22276147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/embarrassingresultofmyfreetime/pseuds/embarrassingresultofmyfreetime
Summary: When Graham finds a teleportation cube offering an all-expenses-paid vacation, he, Ryan, and Yaz take up the offer and give the seemingly-distant Doctor some time to herself.After the events of Skyfall 1&2, the trust between the trio and a certain timelord is shaken. However, when their vacation quickly becomes a nightmare, it's up to the Doctor to bring about peace on an upsettingly familiar planet.Bonus: The Doctor finally confesses to her companions the issues weighing on her.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 83





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> In short, I didn't like Orphan 55. I think it definately had some good ideas but suffice it to say, the execution just wasn't there. That said, I think the overall message was worth saying so here's my remake of it all.  
> Honestly, I got a little carried away but I really liked making this so I hope you enjoy it too.  
> Enjoy my desent into madness.

"Hey Doc, I found this old box in the storage closet. It says all-inclusive vacation. I'm not sure about this date on it. It looks expired but I was thinking- we do have a time machine. What do y' say?" Graham wondered into the main console room with a dimly-glowing white box in his hands, "Do you think we could still use it?"

The Doctor paused for a moment. She couldn't quite remember where she had aquired it, nor why it would have been in the storage closet. However, seeing as their last attempt at a relaxing vacation had been... something of a dud- this could more than make up for it.

Still, she hesitated to agree. Those kinds of tickets were usually linked to teleportation, cutting out the hassle in traveling. Problem was, she rather liked traveling. In fact, she spend most of her time doing it and she didn't quite enjoy being parted from the ship that made it possible.

"Yeah, maybe it'll do you some good. You've barely left the Tardis in days," Yaz added supportively.

The Doctor spun around with a layer of humor in her worn voice, "Well- it's a one man show around here! -Woman, one woman show around here! If I don't keep everything running smoothly I might accidentally return you to your lives a year late! I've had it happen and... well, I'd rather not be slapped by anyone's mothers again."

"Any what?" Yaz questioned in surprise.

"Not important. How about you three go ahead. Actually-"

The Doctor brushed past Yaz and a moment later her phone was in the Doctor's hands. She popped open the back and put something under the battery.

"What are you doing?"

"Upgrade- congratulations, you're promoted," the Doctor smiled briefly and flatly handed it back.

She then spun around to Ryan and Graham, "You too."

"Oh no. I'm not falling for that again." Ryan backed away.

The Doctor rolled her eyes, "It'll just boost your signal. Plus I take your phone all the time."

"What?" Ryan asked, but it was too late. The Doctor was already messing with his phone. She quickly did the same thing to Graham's before using her sonic to reactivate the cube in hand.

The Doctor leaned one hand against the Tardis console and flipped her sonic screwdiver in her hand before returning it to her coat pocket.

"Go have a bit of fun. Vacations rarely take to me anyways. Actually most of the time. Nearly EVERY-" she shook her head to brush away the thought and glanced to the floor, "nevermind."

"We'll see you later, Doctor," Ryan nodded, the three humans grathering around the cube to each rest one hand over it.

The Doctor returned the nod with one of her own, her lips pressed into a forced smile before adding hastily, "Call me if you have any trouble!"

Graham quickly agreed, "Will do, Doc! I'll look after em!"

The Doctor chucked and, in a flash, they were gone.

The Doctor stayed where she was for a long moment, still leaning against the console of the Tardis.

Without them, the once lively room seemed to seep up any remaining energy and let it fade away into a solumn silence.

The Doctor sighed to find herself once again alone. Safe, but alone, with only the gentle hydralic sound of the Tardis engines to keep her company.

The lights fadded to a soft but bright blue as she quickly busied herself with tuneups and presending everything was alright.

-

On a planet quite far away and yet uncomfortably close to where they had been, the trio materialized on a teleportation platform.

"Welcome!" An automated voice greeted them,  
"You are registered as an all inclusive stay, party of four. Three days and two nights. Please enjoy your stay."

"Oh, thank you!" Graham beamed.

"Would you look at that view!" Yaz exclaimed as she stepped off the platform. Her feet lead her to the edge of a large pool overlooking a distant tropical paradice.

"Time to soak up the sun of a whole new planet!" Graham cheered, already racing over to the nearest lounge chair. He noisily dragged it up to the edge of the pool and cheerfully took a seat.

"I guess it's just as well the Doc stayed behind," Graham noted lightheartedly, "she would've never been able to sit still 'n' jus' take it all in, eh?"

"Do you think she's alright?" Ryan asked. He had been contemplating the question for quite some time, but hadn't wanted to ask the others with the possibility of the Doctor within earshot. She had seemed upset last time they had confronted her for answers and he hadn't wanted to inadvertantly make it worse.

The three shared an uneasy look.

"Yeah," Yaz said with a clearly false confidence, "I'm sure she'll tell us what's bothering her when she's ready."

"You're probably right," Graham quickly agreed.

There was a brief pause.

Ryan quickly switched the topic,

"Well anyways, all inclusive probably includes food so I'm 'onna see what they have available. I'll try t' back you bacn somethin'," Ryan chuckled before dashing off towards the large building that vaguely resembled a modern-arts exibit blown out of proportion.

"See if they 'ave any crisps!" Graham called after him.

Yaz chuckled before quickly carrying on her own way. She continued her walk down the edge of the shoreline. The beautiful view seemed to extend forever. She began to walk along a paved road of stone extending out through a garden.

After all the chaos of their usual trips, this was a nice change of pace.

Still, she felt troubled.

It was a treat to see other planets and other times- but things had changed in the group's dynamic ever since that Not-Oh-MI6-agent-gone-rogue tried to destroy the human race.

She, Ryan, and Graham all had faith in each other, but the adventure had fractured their combined relationship with the Doctor. They had believed her to be all alone, traveling, leading a simple life and occasionally trying to help fix whatever trouble she found along the way.

But Yaz had seen first hand that that wasn't all there was too her. The Doctor's oldest friend was a man whom they had all trusted, only for him to reveal hinself as a genocidal maniac and merciless, unpredictable murderer. One moment the man was at Yaz's side making jokes, and then next he was trapping them into a crashing plane.

Yaz's trust was shaken, for sure, but not yet completely torn. There was time to fix this. Yaz just hoped the Doctor was willing to be honest with them- this time BEFORE things went too far.

Yaz had gotten so lost in thought that she hadn't realized how far she'd walked. All at once, she was struck by something in front of her and stepped back in surprise as a mild shock of electicity jolted through her. It only took her a second to collect her thoughts. She glanced back to the others, but no one seemed too bothered. Grahan remained in his chair, unbothered, and an elderly couple had just exited the building and was happily walking in the opposite direction.

Yaz finally glanced to a display of flowers to her right and finally noticed a sign she hadn't previously realized was there. It requested guests not to walk beyond the given point. However, it said this was because the garden was under matinance and NOT the risk of running into an invisible wall.

Now intrigued by something far more interested than her own mind, she reached out a hand. She felt the strange sensation of electricity buzz through her and a moment later she found the reason why. Her hand pressed against what appeared to be thin air.

Half-jokingly, she knocked. Her reply came in the form of a dull metal echo as if she was knocking on something hallow.

"What the..." she quietly considered this new information.  
Yaz quickly strolled along, parallel to the wall. She stepped over the perfect-looking grass and flowers until the conclusion became clear.

"We're... in a dome?"

She shook her head to clear her mind and wondered back the way she had come from. She spared the marage of distance a nervous glance over her shoulder before heading to the building.

"Of course we're in a dome. It's probably... for safety reasons."

But some voice inside her wasn't convinced. In the future, there were always spaceships overhead and people hurrying about. But here, there wasn't so much as a parking lot. She didn't like the eerie feeling settling inside her chest.

-

"Never eaten this before!" Ryan commented cheerfully to himself.

In his hands, he held a large tray with one of every edible delicacy thing he could find. He wasn't sure they would all taste amazing to his human tongue- he had found that out the hard way from past adventures- but he was willing to risk finding out.

Yaz stepped up next to him, some kind of tablet in her hands.

"Ryan, something's off with this place."

"Oh man now YOU'RE starting to sound like the, Doc," he sighed and moved his tray to the next table, "Yaz, there's no way she would have let us come here if it was dangerous. She wouldn't do that to us."

"She might not know!" Yaz explained as Ryan continued to load a variety of different colored jello-like objects onto a strange oval dish.

"She's been wrong about things being threats before."

That got Ryan's attention.

Yaz continued, "It says on this information tablet here that this place is called Tranquility Spa but it won't tell me WHERE we are. It just says it's an 'off-site branch'. What's even weirder is that I've been looking around this place and we're in a /dome/. That view out there isn't even real. And also? There's no actual spa. I checked."

Ryan shrugged, "Maybe they have a reason. Not sure about the spa though. Maybe 'spa' means something different here."

"It gets weirder," Yaz continued, "I've been trying to see if we can leave this dome but nothing comes up. People ONLY travel in and out of here by teleport."

"I guess that's strange... but maybe we're on a ship or something where you can't just step out," Ryan reasoned.

"No engines," Yaz replied.

Ryan paused gathering together his food, "Are you trying to make me clastraphobic?"

"Of course not! But don't you think that's strange? And...."  
Yaz drifted off.

"What?" Ryan asked, now far more interested than he'd like to be about the whole theory.

Yaz hesitated. She looked over at the other people in the room. There were a few that looked somewhat human, and several others that didn't at all. Regardless, they looked to be peacefully enjoying themselves. Yaz hated to think the worse of their situation.

She turned back to Ryan, "You know how sometimes when we end up in the wrong century the Doctor will say something about how the Tardis has picked up on some anomoly and it turns out to be something gone terribly wrong that she has to fix?"

Ryan almost didn't want to answer, "yeah...."

"What if... what if this is one of those times."

Almost as if in reply, the lights dimmed. All power seemed to shut off inside. The whitenoise of the electricity gave away to abrupt silence.

The pair looked to each other before racing outside. They burst out into the false sunlight in time to see a single ripple distrupt the interior view of the dome. The wave dispersed like waves made by a pebble thrown into a still lake. The waves past across, but where they originated from wasn't clear.

It felt unlikely that anyone had a reason to break out of the dome. Which left them with the terrible feeling that someone had broken in...

"That's odd, innit?" Graham sat up to better examine the shimmering marage.

Ryan and Yaz glanced to each other before impulsively running for the teleportation device.

"Graham, let's go!" Ryan called quickly.

Graham sighed before finding his way to his feet.

"You know I just wanted one day-"

"Save it!" Yaz called sharply. The three of them gathered together onto the teleporter.

"Return us!" Ryan requested to the voice that had welcomed them.

But the lights surrounding the disk were off, as if it was powered down.

Suddenly, as if only further solidifying their worries, an alarm began to blare from the building. The world around them still visually appeared to be paradice, but the loud noice blaring through the dome gave it a haunting echo.

A new voice suddenly added to it, the announcement originated from seemingly nowhere,

"All visitors please return to the main dining hall. This is an inconvenient but necessary drill," rung out through invisible speakers. This announcement came from a concerned sounding woman rather than the calm, automated one that had welcomed them.

The trio turned for the building. They had nearly reached the door when a sudden scream caught their attention.

"That's it, I'm calling the Doctor," Yaz decided definitively as she scrambled for her phone. She dialed it quickly.

"Doctor?"

"Yaz?" The Doctor's voice replied more flatly than usual. Yaz assumed the call had caught her off guard.

"Doctor! Something's wrong," she explained quickly, "The teleport is down and this place is in some kind of dome. We can't get out and- and we think something from outside got in."

The three of them hurried across the beautiful landscape to find an elderly couple cowering in fear. Thankfully, they didn't seem injured.

"Well that doesn't make any sense, those types of places are usually built in the middle of cities!" The Doctor was saying over the line.

Ryan and Graham helped the startled couple to their feet and lead them back to the main and only building.

"There was this huge creature!" The woman was saying.

The Doctor was continuing to ramble but Yaz didn't notice. Her eyes were too focused on the massive hole in the dome. Through it, she saw a world that didn't look incredably unlike the moon. It was absolutely barren. It looked lifeless, as if only rocks and dust were left. The only signs of anything at all were the large craters in it's surface.  
It looked like how she would describe the end of the world. Just... nothing.

"Yaz!" The Doctor's concerned voice pulled her back from her shock.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here," Yaz replied, shaken. She stared out at the open landscape. There was something... unsettling about it. Unsettling in the same way ghost towns or abruptly evacuated cities were unsettling.

A barrier of energy had closed the gap to protect the people inside from the atmosphere on the other side but it was too late to turn a blind eye to what she had seen.  
Yaz tried to shake away the feeling and turned to follow the others.

"Something must have broke in," she finally continued over the phone, "There's a hole in the dome and outside there's just... nothing."

"Nothing like you're in space? Or nothing like-"

The Doctor cut herself off, a sudden realization striking into her hearts.

-

The Doctor had purposely kept Yaz talking while she tried to pinpoint the location of her phone. The Doctor was trying every possible scan the Tardis was capable of running, but none of them seemed to be working. The Doctor tried to think of a reason why. Maybe this dome her friends were in was somehow interfering with her systems? But she was recieving the call just fine. The Doctor was paced around the console in frustration. Yaz sounded increasingly nervous on the other end of the line and there wasn't a moment to lose.

"Stop saying she's nearby! She can't be! Check it again!" The Doctor shouted after muting the call.

Again, the scans read out that Yaz was less than 20 miles away.

But that couldn't be right. The Doctor was just hovering above the Earth in the early 2000 and, obviously, her companions were nowhere near the Tardis.

But then... well the worst possible explanation suddenly hit her.

She had been to the year 10 billion when the lights started going out. She had seen the remnants of humanity- ever optimist- trying to find Utopia. She had seen them try to flee the 'other kind', tribes of wild no-longer-human hunters.

Surely... well. Surely it couldn't be....

The Doctor didn't want to look at the teleportation cube.  
Graham had said it was expired... which meant it had said the date. But Graham must have read it wrong because....

The Doctor didn't want to say it. She didn't want it to be true. She didn't want to see the distruction of another planet she regarded as home. She didn't want to see it-  
No there had to be another explanation there... there had- t-.

"Nothing like it's all wasteland." Yaz replied, "How could they build a spa in the middle of nothing?"

The Doctor hung up the phone.

She hesitated, sitting herself down before finally reaching for the cube. Sometimes she really hated being right.

-

"Doctor? Doctor!" Yaz panicked into her phone.

"Come on, Yaz!" Ryan hollared, holding the door open for her.

Giving up, Yaz pocketed her phone and followed him in.  
As requested, everyone in the spa was huddled into the main dinning room. Ryan quickly distracted himself by passing around the tray of snacks he had arranged in an attempt to keep everyone calm.

The Doctor might not be there yet, but she would come for them. Ryan, Graham, and Yaz all believed it. Until then, they were ready to do what they could to help. Their best option was to keep everyone safe and calm until the Doctor arrived to sort things out and that's what they planned to do. Their trust in her had been shaken, but that didn't erase what they had learned from her.

Yaz had been to several classes and seminars on working out disputes. With a bit of luck, she was willing to keep things smoothed out until help arrived.

She looked over everyone in the room. There was herself, Ryan, and Graham. There was an elderly couple huddled together, a man who was dressed like some sort of space mechanic as well as a young boy who appeared to be related to him. Additionally there was one woman who appeared to be in charge of the spa, and a young man who was dressed for security. He was locking down the surrounding doors.

Nine people to keep safe. It could be worse.

"My dear, I was going to propose to you today," The older gentleman from before was saying softly to his still-shaken companion, "If we get out of this, would you do me the honor of being my wife?"

"Oh, of course!" The woman cheerfully accepted his ring.  
Yaz breathed in relief that at least there was something positive to calm the group.

She glanced to Ryan before ducking away to the people in charge. She approached them with all the confidence she could manage. Maybe her relationship with the Doctor WAS still a little shaken, but she had faith the Doctor would find a way to get to them.

"Hello, official galactic... police... association," Yaz smashed the words together too quickly for the two strangers in charge to brush her asside, "Yazmin Khan, just call me Yaz. I've already called for- er, back up. It's on it's way. Hopefully won't be too long. What's your plan?"

The pair looked more nervous than Yaz thought they would be, considering her promise that help would soon arrive.

"My name's Abbel. I run this facility but I can't recommend that you do that. This place-" the woman hesitated, "anyone else who comes here will be at risk."

She was older than she had first seemed, that was for sure, and her face was pale with dark hair pulled back in a hairtie and half-hidden under a hat. She clearly knee more than she was saying.

"And this place would be?" Yaz asked.

The woman and the man dressed in a security uniform shared an unsure look.

"You'll want to be honest with me," Yaz said firmly, "we have to keep these people calm until we can get them out of here. Have you called anyone to help us? Do you have any ships to get us off this planet?"

The man, tall but clearly nervous and probably even younger than Yaz, looked down to his shoes. He spoke quickly as if he was confessing something beyond what he was permitted to say.

"We travel via teleport but it's down. Everything's down. Even the locks won't hold soon, they'll just be tabs of metal and they won't keep out those things-"

The woman in charge snapped at him, "Stop that. This is the job."

The man nodded, "I know but I expected this job to be about stopping guests from stealing too many towels and keeping track of visitors- not fighting those things out there alone!" The truth finally brust out from him, "They took- they took our other security officer already. She suffacated out there. There's no air to breath on the rest of this planet. It's all C-O-2... we can't leave."

The woman turned to address Yaz, "This is an orphan planet. All life was irradicated but now that the radiation is at safe levels again we've been working to make this place habitable. We were going to terriform the planet, give it back new life. The project is in developement but the startup cost has been more than we thought and then these creatures." She took a deep breath, "We call them the Dreg. We don't know how they survived but they've been breaking in and dragging people out to die. It started a few weeks ago but this is beyond what we thought they could do."

"Okay. Well first, we need to keep everyone calm. Let's move them deeper into this building so we can put more doors between us and them. Help will be here soon."

-

"You're a time machine!" The Doctor shouted. She had hooked up the cube to the console via some stray wires and was working to pilot the Tardis to the moment she had hung up on Yaz.

As long as she wasn't part of events, the Doctor could travel to that exact moment. So why wasn't it working?!

"You'll go to the year 10 billion no problem when you want to escape Captain Jack Harkness but when we need to go save our fam you don't feel up to the trip?!" She ran around the side and pressed a different array of buttons, "I admit, he does come on a little strong. But in the end he helped us. Now help ME."

The Doctor had been shouting for quite some time but nothing seemed to work. It was almost like the Tardis didn't want to take the Doctor there.

"Listen! I don't want to go there anymore than you do. One decimated planet is more than enough for me- but we HAVE to go! They're depending on us! We have to help them! If we don't do something no one else will."

The Tardis only wheezed its hydralics and rocked.

The Doctor let out an exasperated groan.

-

"Go, go, go!" Ryan was directing the group of visitors and workers deeper into the spa.

Whatever terrifying creature that had scared the elderly couple half to death was now at the outermost door. They could hear its claws scraping as it tried to nreak through.  
The small band of human-like creatures comtinued farther into the building. The security guard shut each door once everyone was though and locked it shut. One after another they ran through and one after another the creature broke through.

It worked for a little while. The group moved at a slow pace but with each door, the creature got a little slower. However, it never stopped. If anything, the creature seemed to be learning. Each combination of thuds and scraping took less time with each door attempted.  
With the world so barren out there, Yaz feared the creature- whatever it was- might be egar for something more delicious.

They made it down the hall towards the inner room, but there was a long hallway between one door and the next. The creature broke down the door behind them before the group could make it to the next one.

The security guard took position, fearfully but bravely pointing his blaster in their persuer's direction.

The creature was enormous, maybe over seven feet tall. It's teeth curved out from its head and jaw in a way that made you wonder if it would bite their heads clean off. Its dead eyes looked over them, turning it's head every so often for a better look.

"I'll buy you some time," the guard told them, his voice shaking.

He just began to fire when a familiar brease brought in the most wonderful noise. The fatal beam was obsorbed harmlessly by the Tardis's shielding.

Yaz turned to see the large blue box materializing between them and the creature.

Ryan cheered with relief and Graham chuckled at the wonderful sight.

"Hello? Oh hello!" The Doctor stepped out of the door, shutting it behind her.

"Looks like I made it right on time!"

"Not a second too soon!" Graham laughed.

"I'm here, aren't I? And look at you lot! You're alright! I call that a win."

The Doctor gestured to them happily with one hand while the other rested calmly in her pocket.

"Doc, behind you!" Graham pointed out.

In the dim emergency lighting, a creature reered its head with a loud growl. However, it was far slower now than it had been at the start of its chase. The Doctor looked far more curious about it than at all scared.

"This is what you were so scared of?" The Doctor spared them a contemplating glance before turning back to the creature.

She looked over it's face far too closely to be healthy.

"Not too fast, is it?"

"It was faster before it broke through the last three doors!" The mechanic snapped fearfully.

The Doctor rocked onto her toes and examined its dark, deep sunken eyes.

It let out an intimidating roar.

"Oh that's just amazing, isn't it?" She noted, breathing in its breath. Everyone else gave an incredible look of disgust.

"What planet is this?" The Doctor addressed the group with a sudden spark of interest.

Too baffled and slightly terrified to question the newcomer, the woman in charge of the company replied, "Officially it's called Orphan 5-0-5."

"Ah," the Doctor noted, "ex-level 5 planet, the fifth of its kind to be destroyed like this," she said with something oddly nastalgic in her voice. Her emotion suddenly did a 180, "Why build a spa?"

"It's... just an extra branch of business until we can make the planet habitable."

"Habitable!" The Doctor gasped in realization, "Of course! Because out there the air is all messed up for humans, all co2 and radiation! Then you lot come here, start your noisy construction and messing with the air levels. Of course the locals are going to get curious!"

The Doctor quickly- and far too cheerfully for everyone's liking- spun back around to the enormous creature looming over her, "and isn't that just like you lot!"

"Excuse me? These things have killed people!" The guard exclaimed.

The Doctor looked him over before glaring disapprovingly.

"How?"

"Those things dragged my friend outside! She suffocated before we could..." he swallowed hard, "before we could get to her."

The Doctor pressed her lips together, "I'm sorry."

Once again her emotions completely flipped.

"But listen, there's no need for anymore violence. Don't you see? They didn't mean to take your friend out there to die, they would have killed her in here if that's what they wanted! No, no they took her out there because they want you dead, they're taking you out there because they're curious! Humans, same as always, /very/ adaptable and always curious."

"What do you mean humans?" Graham asked.

The Doctor ignored the question.

"Put down your weapon. Don't you see? I can't even fight even if it wanted too. You lot sufficate because there's too much co2 out there, well, this one here needs that co2. There's not enough of it in here!"

The Doctor reached up to the creature's face, "let's see if I'm right."

Unfortunately, she was. And she forgot how much it hurt to revisit such agonizing memeories. All the stories of war between opposing groups of people, greedy for power. The distruction that followed, leading to the collapse of civilization. All the innocent lives, both big and small, both the selfish and the innocent, destoryed. And eventually leading them here, this now-miserable planet giving rise to evolved versions of those who had somehow survived it all.

She had seen the death of so many planets including her own. She saw Earth's future, even beyond this moment she was in. For just the fraction of a second, she remembered seeing it officially burn. She remembered Rose's hand in hand with her past incarnation sharing the pain-

There wasn't time for that now. That was all still in the future of the planet and burried deep in her own past.  
She patted the large creature's shoulder in thanks and blew it extra co2 from her lungs.

"It was a little intimate. Hopefully my breath smells alright," the Doctor quipped, "But listen, because this is the important bit," she added more seriously.

"These creatures just want to know what you're doing and if you shoot at them, you'll make fast enemies. You humans," she shook her head with a heavy heart, "You need to remember not to let fear get in the way of what's right. Fear makes you dangerous to each other and everyone else around you. Now that the dust has cleared, work together to fix this planet, to restore it to the life-filled beauty it could be. Restore it!"

The small group nodded but remained tense. The Doctor knew what to do about that as well.

"You there, you look like an authority figure. I know the look," the Doctor pointed to the business woman, "Come 'ere. What's your name?"

"Abbel," the woman replied. She did as she was asked until she was close enough for the Doctor to take hold of her wrist. The Doctor then grabbed the arm of the large creature and slowly let them join hands.

The womam hesitated at the sight of the creature's sharp claws, but after a moment's time it became clear that there were not bad intentions between them.

"There you have it! No reason to panic. Greed and fear and hate lead to the distruction of this planet, but you don't have to let it happen a second time. DECIDE, right now, to be better. Choose to make this planet better, not just because you want to profit," the Doctor gestured to the business woman, "and not because you're scared of something you don't understand," she looked to the creature. She then put both her own hands on the link between them, "and don't hate each other just because you think someone you don't even know is in your way. Instead of fighting over who gets what, decide to fix this planet together. You both live on it! Might as well make it comfy as you can! In fact, you already have quite the mutually benefitial relation ship here. Oxygen to carbon dioxide and vice versa."

She rerurned her hands to her pockets.

"No matter how dark it gets, you can always fix things if you're truely willing to try. Do your best and find space for all who want to be a part of your world."

The woman considered this and the creature standing opposite to her shut it's enormous mouth to the bet of it's ability. The two very different creatures looked to each other in a new way. Abbel straighened up and shook the creature's hand firmly.

"Do we have an agreement?" Abbel asked. The creature nodded its heavy head.

The Doctor smiled cheerfully and took a step back.  
Her work here was done. Her smile morphed into something sadder as she turned back to the Tardis door.  
It was a shame the planet had to come to this at all.  
"Come on, fam."

-

"You think that'll work?" Graham asked, shutting the door.

"I have to hope so," The Doctor said with determination, "It shouldn't take too long for then to get in some translation equiptment. With a little luck maybe they'll finally get it right and realize that it's in their own best interests to work together."

It wasn't until everyone was safely inside and the engines were whirling again that Yaz finally dared to ask, "Doctor, what were those things?"

The Doctor grew still, her back to them. Her eyes searched the empty air for an answer. Finally, she turned to them.

"They were humans, what the ones that couldn't escape Earth in time might evolve into. With the way your world was at the time you left Earth, your future was created from the probability of events in your timeline. What you experienced may or may not be what becomes of Earth."

The others grew more solumn and the Doctor quickly elaberated, "But there's time to change! There's time to become better. Maybe someone comes along and will find a way for everyone to work together before the world becomes so ruined that it becomes orphaned by those responsible. Or who knows, maybe it just takes a second time for you to get it right. But even then! Even if humanity becomes those things, maybe you can find a way to fix things again. You have to have hope," she said cheerfully.

"How can you say that?" Yaz suddenly cried out, "That- that was the future but it was still our home! Those things were- will be- us! Doctor, the three of us were the only ones left! How can you just-"

Yaz turned away before she could upset herself any further. She leaned against one of the nearby pillars for support, her back to all of them and shoulders shaking gently.

Ryan sniffed and wiped his eyes as subtly as he could with his sleeve.

"I'm sorry, Doctor?" Ryan tried to smooth things over, "We were just really scared. We tried to do what you do, keep everyone calm and safe, but... I don't know Doctor. We really thought those things were there to kill us."

The Doctor didn't reply at first. She simply looked down at her hands. She rubbed her fingers over each other for a moment, as if trying to convince herself she was even real.

After a long while, leaning back against the console in great stillness, she pulled a lever next to her.

Graham looked at her as if she had just pulled the emergency stop in an elevator. The Tardis engine stopped abruptly.

"My planet's gone," the Doctor said distantly. "My whole species. Everything I knew."

She looked up to the warm amber lighting to keep the tears from escaping her eyes. She inhailed sharply and let out a long breath.

"I don't talk about myself because, in a way, I feel responsible."

The air was too still for anyone else to dare disturb it. Every word felt heavy, like one of many numerous weights she carried was being offered out for them to take.

"I didn't fight in the war... but I fought to end it. I did... everything I could think of, both good and bad things. But it ultimately didn't make a difference. They're gone. And now-"

She stopped before her voice could betray her.

She took a deep breath, "Now I save your world. Like I've always done. It's the only world I have left. And I'm... I'm sorry I bring you with me. I know I put anyone who I bring along in danger. I'm responsible for so many people I should know better." Her words dissolved into a whisper.

Her hands raised up to either side of her face. She slid down, slowly, to sit on the mesh metal floor.

"I should know better but being alone is so much worse. Please don't ask me anything else. I can't bare to think about it all. So many people...."

Her knees pressed against her chest and her face stayed burried into her hands.

She didn't cry. She never could. She was too scared that if she started it would never stop.

But now she had said it. She had somehow summarized all the answers her friends could, and probably didn't, want.

She hoped now they would finally leave her alone. It's what was better for them and it's what she felt she deserved.

She should have never tried to create this fake family for herself. Maybe she should just go to Gallifrey and follow the other timelords example to where she belonged. The Master had said if she ever found out the truth she would have become a killer like him.

Joke's on him. She already knew she was a killer.

Maybe she never deserved to have survived. Maybe, if she asked kindly, the Master would kill her too-

She gasped softly as suddenly an arm fell over her shoulders. She found Yaz on her left, carefully comforting her. In a moment, Ryan and Graham were there, too, at her other side.

She glanced through her hair to each of them.

"We're already back on Earth in your time. You can leave." She told them apathetically.

"All due respect, we're not gonna do that, Doc," Graham spoke for all of them. Yaz and Ryan nodded.

"We didn't know why you were acting the way you were," Ryan explained. "We wouldn't have mocked you like we did if we'd realized you were grieving. We thought you were pushing us away."

"Why did you think that?" The Doctor asked, her voice still soft and distant.

"You weren't being honest with us!" Yaz continued. "And then your friend was trying to kill the human race and all that- we didn't know WHAT to think!"

The Doctor ran her sleeve over her face.

"I'm... I'm sorry. I just... have a lot going on."

Yaz smiled and pushed her shoulder playfully against the Doctor's, "Then talk to us. We're your fam. We're here for you."

The Doctor smiled, unsure at first. After a moment, she reached out to pull them all into a hug.

"Thank you." She pressed all their foreheads together for a brief moment, her lips curling up into a teeth-filled smile.

They all chuckled.

"Take some time and come get us when you're ready to talk, yeah?" Ryan suggested warmheartedly, "We can get together, have a sleepover or somethin'."

"How old are you?" Yaz teased playfully.

"I'd love to," the Doctor agreed, her gentle warmth coming back through her drained tone.

The trio stood up and then offered their hands to the Doctor. She tried to take them all at once and laughed as she stood up again.

"Alright. Sorry about all that-"

"It's okay!" Yaz interjected.

The Doctor dipped her head with a soft chuckle,

"Right. I'll see you all in a few days or so?"

"You'd better!" Graham agreed cheerfully.

The three headed for the door.

The Doctor whispered to herself softly,

"In fact, you've given me an idea of what to do in the mean time."

-

The Master paused his scheming to pull an old earth-style phone from his pocket. Sure he was in the year 3400- or at least it would be if the date was compared to Earth's cycles- but phones just seemed... easier. He had already grown quite used to them when he had spent time on Earth and they were much more durable than even the most up to date technology. He snickered at his blackberry with a slide-out keyboard and answered it.

"Doctor? To what do I owe the pleasure?"

His words fell with the same emotion a grin envokes on a chesire cat.

The Doctor's lighthearted words filled him with surprise,  
"I was wondering if you'd like to take a break from your usual evil scheming and have lunch with me."

The Master looked over his wall of take-over-the-world-style ideas and frowned in frustration. He didn't want to admit that the Doctor was right so he bit back his reply. He actually would rather like a break from it all.

"Where?" He asked skeptically.

The Doctor's cold reply stung something sharp into his hearts, "Gallifrey."

"Why in the known universe would I possibly do that?" He demanded, pacing quickly across the room in a brust of outrage.

"Because I don't care." The Doctor articulated each word carefully, if not coldly.

"You... what?" The Master questioned, his expression growing more baffled by the second.

The Doctor looked over her Tardis console room, phone in hand,

"I've been thing it over, this whole dramatic thing. You say our identity is all a lie, and that it was so terrible you destoryed Gallifrey. You said I would have done the same thing if I knew. But the thing is; I don't know." The Doctor explained more confidently than usual.

Her confidence wasn't bold or brash. Somehow, it merely reflected the definitive conclusion she had arrived at. And the Master already knew once the Doctor made up their mind, they could be quite stubborn. No matter which one the Master was dealing with.

"And yes I'm curious," The Doctor continued, "but if all the other time lords are really dead then it doesn't MATTER what your secret is. They can't hurt us anymore."

She paused before adding more softly, addressing him like the old friend he was, "So what do you say? I'll bring a picnic. Maybe... maybe we can take a walk through those fields on your father's estate."

Her wistful optimism was met with silence.

"Master?" She asked softly.

He cleared his throat on the other end of the line, trying not to show how choaked up he was,

"O... okay."

"Hey, you're finally the Master of Gallifrey," the Doctor chuckled.

"Send me the time and place." The Master said flatly before hanging up.

The Doctor chuckled.

Maybe all Gallifrey needed was someone willing to change it. Her people had lost, they had destoryed it long before the Time War or the Master came around. But maybe she and the Master could fix if up, together. Maybe they could clean up the damage and rebuild it better than before.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, if you made it to the end thank you so much!! I hope you liked it.
> 
> I gave it a more bittersweet/optimistic ending, let 13 reflect on her inner issues, and let her actually communicate with her fam! Also the Master shows up for a bit bc I've missed him tbh
> 
> Anyways, I know this is very different from the episode but I actually really liked making it my own. Please ignore any minor errors I missed when editing. I'll try to edit it over once more at some point.
> 
> Most importantly:  
> Feel free to comment and tell me what you liked or what you thought about my version vs the canon. I'd say 'or vice-versa' but please be nice. X) I'm actually quite nervous to post this so I really appreciate any and all feedback!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! :)


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